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Barclays is thought to be considering a £4bn cash call having been ordered by the Bank of England to raise its capital levels.

The
Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority wants the lender to hold more
assets to act as a buffer against potential future losses. Barclays
could outline its plans tomorrow when it publishes its results for the
first half of the year.

Analysts expect it to report profits of £3.7bn.

Lloyds is expected to deliver profits of £2.3bn as it takes another step on the road to recovery.

The
mortgage giant could also signal plans to start paying a dividend again
as the government prepares to sell the stake it bought during the worst
of the credit crunch.

Shares
in the group are now trading consistently above the 61p level at which
the state would break even on its £20.3bn bailout and have more than
doubled in value over the past year.

RBS,
which looks set to bank profits of £1.4bn, could name Hester’s
successor, with Ross McEwan, who leads the firm’s retail banking arm,
the hot favourite. Bruce van Saun, RBS’s finance head, is also in the
running.

The new chief
executive will need to be approved by the Treasury and takes over at a
time when the government is reviewing whether or not to split RBS into a
‘good’ bank to lend to households and business and a ‘bad’ bank to
house its toxic assets.

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